Vengeance (2003)
Vengeance (2003) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which took place on July 27, 2003 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. It was the third annual Vengeance event and starred wrestlers from the SmackDown! brand. Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's card. The main event was a No Disqualification Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship, in which Kurt Angle defeated WWE Champion Brock Lesnar and The Big Show to win the championship. Two featured bouts were scheduled on the undercard. In a standard match, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon defeated Zach Gowen. The other was a standard match in which The Undertaker defeated John Cena. Vengeance had an attendance of approximately 9,500 and received about 322,000 pay-per-view buys. This event helped WWE increase its pay-per-view revenue by $6.2 million from the previous year. Background The event featured nine professional wrestling matches with outcomes predetermined by WWE script writers. The matches featured wrestlers portraying their characters in planned storylines that took place before, during and after the event. All wrestlers were from the SmackDown! brand - a storyline division in which WWE assigned its employees. Event Before the event began and aired live on pay-per-view, an episode of Sunday Night Heat, one of the secondary television programs for WWE, was taped live. The only scheduled match was a standard match between Último Dragón and Kanyon, which Dragon won after a standing shiranui on Kanyon. Preliminary matches After Sunday Night Heat, the pay-per-view event began with a standard match for the vacant WWE United States Championship between Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. The match was contested evenly between both men, with both of them performing a variety of offensive maneuvers. Guerrero eventually gained the upper hand when Rhyno interfered in the match while the referee was kayfabe unconscious, performing a spear, a variation of a take down to Benoit. Following this, Guerrero performed a body splash from the top turnbuckle onto Benoit, a move called a frog splash. Guerrero then covered Benoit for a pin, becoming the new WWE United States Champion. The following bout was a standard match between Billy Gunn, escorted by Torrie Wilson, and Jamie Noble. The stipulation on this match was that if Noble won, he would be allowed to sleep with Torrie. During the match, Noble performed a DDT from the top turnbuckle on Gunn and attempted a cover, but Nidia interfered and placed Gunn's foot on the rope, causing the pin to be broken. This angered Noble, who confronted Nidia. Torrie attempted to slap him, but he instead kissed her. Following this, Nidia and Torrie both slapped Noble. Noble returned to the inside of the ring, only to be tripped by Torrie. While he was confronting her, Gunn attempted to lift Noble, spin him 180°, and slam him onto his back, a move known as a spinning side slam or Gunnslinger, but Noble pushed him into Torrie. Noble then performed a roll-up on Gunn, pinning him. The third contest was a Bar Room Brawl hosted by the Acolytes Protection Agency (Bradshaw and Faarooq). In the match, the last man who was still capable of standing won. In addition to the APA, it featured Shannon Moore, Doink the Clown, Brother Love, Nunzio, Matt Hardy, Kanyon, Danny Basham, Doug Basham, the Easter Bunny, Sean O'Haire, John Hennigan, Orlando Jordan, Funaki, Los Conquistadores (Rob Conway and Johnny Jeter), the Brooklyn Brawler, Johnny Stamboli, Chuck Palumbo, Matt Cappotelli, and Spanky. During the match, Spanky was put through a table, Sean O'Haire used a pool cue as a weapon, and Brother Love threw Shannon Moore through a mirror. After knocking down Brother Love, Bradshaw remained the last man standing and won the match. The next match was a tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship, where the champions, The World's Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas) defended their titles against the team of Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman. Throughout the match, both teams performed many offensive maneuvers, though the World's Greatest Tag Team gained the advantage with a combination of a powerbomb by Haas and a diving lariat from the top turnbuckle by Benjamin. This was followed by a cover for a pin, and the World's Greatest Tag Team retained their championship. Main event matches The fifth contest was a no countout match between Sable and Stephanie McMahon. Stephanie attacked Sable while she was on the way to the ring, while Sable utilized kicks to take the advantage. Stephanie beat on Sable on the outside before attempting to hit her with a steel chair, but the referee stopped her. The match concluded when Stephanie tore away at Sable's top, and while Sable was attempting to get referee Brian Hebner to help her, Albert (Matt Bloom) attacked Stephanie. Hebner then gave Sable his shirt to cover her, and she made the cover on Stephanie for a pinfall. The first featured contest was a standard match between The Undertaker and John Cena. The Undertaker controlled the match in the beginning, but Cena took advantage by drinking water and spraying it in the Undertaker's face. The Undertaker regained control and lifted Cena by the throat and slammed him to the mat (a move called a chokeslam), which was followed by an attempt to elevate Cena into the air and slam him down onto the mat, called by the Undertaker a Last Ride. Cena reversed the move into a DDT, however. The Undertaker was thrown into an exposed turnbuckle and Cena attacked his midsection, which caused him to bleed from the mouth, selling internal injuries, or making them appear realistic. The Undertaker later attempted to lift Cena upside down and kneel to drop his head to the mat (dubbed by the Undertaker a Tombstone Piledriver), but was unable to due to the (kayfabe) injuries he had received. Cena punched him with a chain wrapped around his fist and lifted the Undertaker onto his back and threw him off onto the mat, which Cena calls an FU. Cena then covered the Undertaker, but he kicked out of the attempt. Cena then scaled the turnbuckle to attack the Undertaker in the corner, and the Undertaker performed a Last Ride on him, followed by a cover for a pinfall. The second featured bout was a standard match between WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and Zach Gowen. McMahon controlled much of the match, attacking Gowen's leg primarily, as Gowen only has one leg. However, Gowen retaliated with such offensive maneuvers as one-legged dropkicks and springboard backflips. Late in the match, McMahon held a steel chair with the intent of hitting Gowen with it. Gowen, however, jumped, spun 360°, and kicked the chair into McMahon's face, causing him to bleed. Gowen then attempted a backflip off the top turnbuckle with a 360° twist, but missed and hit the mat. McMahon then covered Gowen for a pinfall, but after the match, the crowd gave Gowen a standing ovation for his performance. The main event was a No Disqualification Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship in which WWE Champion Brock Lesnar defended his title against Kurt Angle and The Big Show. The match began with Angle and Lesnar facing off against each other, before both of them attacked the Big Show. The Big Show threw Angle to the outside of the ring and performed a chokeslam on Lesnar. He covered Lesnar but did not score a pinfall. The Big Show controlled the early portions of the match before Lesnar struck the Big Show with his shoulder and attempted to lift the Big Show onto his shoulders and threw him in a spinning motion, which Lesnar calls an F-5. The Big Show countered the move, however. Angle returned to the ring with garbage can lids and both he and Lesnar attacked the Big Show with them. The Big Show attempted to perform a chokeslam on both men at the same time, but Angle and Lesnar worked together to perform a chokeslam on the Big Show. Later in the match, Angle began to bleed. Lesnar was placed on the top turnbuckle by the Big Show, who also climbed up to punch Lesnar, but Angle distracted the Big Show and Lesnar went down to the mat, with the Big Show still above him. This allowed Lesnar to perform a powerbomb on the Big Show, which was followed by a cover by Lesnar. Angle broke the cover by hitting Lesnar with a chair to the back, following with a chair shot to the head, causing Lesnar to bleed as well. Angle and the Big Show proceeded to fight on the outside of the ring, and Angle slammed the Big Show down by lifting and spinning him 90°, sending him through the Spanish announcers' table. Afterward, Lesnar and Angle fought each other back on the inside of the ring, and Lesnar threw Angle to the outside again. The Big Show returned to the ring and performed two chokeslams simultaneously on Angle and Lesnar, and he covered both men but failed to score a pinfall. Angle then placed Lesnar in an ankle lock, but the Big Show broke the hold. Angle performed his Olympic Slam on the Big Show again, and then hit Lesnar with the same maneuver, covering him for a pinfall and winning the WWE Championship. Aftermath Reception The Pepsi Center has a maximum capacity of 19,000, but that was reduced for Vengeance 2003. The event had an attendance of 9,500. The event resulted in 322,000 pay-per-view buys. The promotion's pay-per-view revenue was $24.7 million. Canadian Online Explorer''s professional wrestling section rated the entire event a 8.5 out of 10 stars. The No Disqualification Triple Threat main event match was rated a 10 out of 10 stars. The event was released on DVD on August 26, 2003 by Sony Music Entertainment. Results The tournament was held between June 19 and July 27, 2003. The tournament brackets were: Category:2003 in wrestling Category:Pay-Per-View Events Category:WWE Night of Champions Category:WWE for Extreme